Filter question.

[se7en2686]

So ive been keeping fish for a while now. It seems like my filters die quite a bit. i just changed the filter i had on my 29 today as it started making an awful noise. it was still pumping water but just an awful noise. i replaced it with a Marineland Penguin 200. The filter that was in the tank was an Aquatech 30-60. but it replaced another filter before that..
so in almost 2 years im on my 3d filter.
I just dont understand. My tank is a 29 gallon planted. Moss, Swords, water onions and water cabbage (floating) as well as some random bulbs that sprouted from petsmart. (Neice bought them for me lol).
There is no floating mess in my tank i keep it next to crystal clear. I have white very fine sand as my substrate. its not floating around all willy nilly tho. Maybe just bad luck i dont know. All i know is i have Sand in all 3 of my tanks and only the 29 Gallon one seems to hate filters LOL. cursed tank i guess...

(Also before i changed my filter i did do a really good cleaning on the motor and the entire system. id rather recycle the tank then listen to that damn noise. I had just thought it was junk in the propeller but it was cleanish lol. some slime but nothing i would say bad? )
i dont know if it helps but i use Well water, and before i moved here was City so its not the water... least i dont think it is

 

[KcMopar]

sand will shorten the life any filter. I have had great luck with the emperor (marineland) 400 bio wheel filter. I have two. One is more then 10 years OLD!!!! All I have ever replaced is the impellers. The oldest one has seen no substrate to sand substrate and its still flowing great.

 

[se7en2686]

Maybe it is the sand then. i dont want to do back to gravel as i dont really like it. i love the look of sand :/

 

[KcMopar]

I like the sand to so I keep a spare impeller on hand.

 

[Denther]

I've only had my Penguin 100 for a few weeks but it's a really good filter. If yours sounds noisy, let it run for a week or so. I thought mine was loud at first but it's quiet now.

Sand may be your issue. Perhaps you could put some kind of strainer on the intake? Maybe so panty hose or something that will block out all the sand but still allow water to flow. May get dirty after a while but cleaning that off every week when doing water changes is better than buying a new filter that often.